The Bible includes [early Christian] experiences of God, stories about God, understandings of life with God, and how we should live. But it is their story—not God’s infallible, inerrant, and absolute story. . . . Did God ever command that all the men, women and children of our enemies be killed? Did God ever say that slavery was okay? Did God ever forbid remarriage after divorce? Did God ever command that adulterers be stoned? That children who dishonor their parents should be killed? Or that women should be silent in church? That same-sex relationships are an abomination? That God is violent? That Jesus is coming soon, and that his second coming will involve incredible suffering and death for most of humanity—indeed, the destruction of the world itself?

- Marcus Borg, Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power - And How They Can Be Restored (HarperOne, 2011), pp. 58–59